Encore: the impact of style

can't add much to that, very true.

To expand on your very accurate equation, the style modifier depends in importance on the town - the more upmarket the town, the less commodified housing is and the more style matters.

As an aside, I find real estate agents in the Boston area more knowledgable about house types than most areas - most places its a ranch, cape, colonial, or modern. Here Victorian is added to the mix, and with reasonable frequency a few others.

But most don't use specificity, and sometimes you get things called colonial or victorian which clearly aren't. Craftsman 4 squares are always called Colonials, for example, and Craftsman Bungalows are always called capes.

Why do you think that is? Becuase buyers don't care about a further layer of detail, or accurate house labeling - they just care if they like it or not?

My thoughts on charles' question is that perhaps people are less familiar with the names of these styles (myself included) and since "colonials" have strong demand and "bungalows" are often perceived as small, I can understand the more general identification. I recently owned a Tudor which I could not have described as a style prior to my purchase of it.
It is also interesting that contemporary style homes are relative bargains based on the size + location + condition = price formula, esp. considering their seeming(?) resurgence in popularity.

In my area, the importance of style in making a house sell quickly may be influenced by the amount of money a potential buyer has. More affluent buyers seem to place a higher premium on style because they can afford to. They can often buy whatever location and view they want, so why not style? In fact, style may be the primary consolation for people who can't quite get the location, or view, they desire.

And because people with money are more able to buy, it's possible that style has become even more of a factor in quicker home sales, than it was already.

For people that have some money, but are not as well off as the above group, I've noticed that price, square footage, and location, still seem to be the keys (to selling quickly)... just as it always has been. They may not be as willing to sacrifice location for price and square footage as in the past, but they still seem to emphasize these things in making a fast home buying decision.

I think a lot of the "resurgence" in contemporary houses is a matter of elite stylemakers buying on, and most homebuyers still find them ugly.

Hence the discount they clearly attract. Which makes sense, any time you narrow your demand pool significantly, prices will fall accordingly.